Story of highs and lows

[Wanderer]

Hockey,

Trying to change a 75 year old's mind about what should and shouldn't happen regarding deer hunting has been absolutely impossible in my experience. You two will have to let this one go if you care at all about mending any shred of good terms with the guy.

IMO, deer don't belong to anybody until their recovered. Once he found it the antlers were all his and it sounds like he really wants them. If, in your first conversation you had with him, you argued at all about taking possession of them, that likely shut him down to even giving you the possibility of identifying it as the one your son shot. He was ending the haggle right then and there. Now you're just a guy trying to take something from him.

Let it blow over like others mentioned and if you can swallow enough pride to apologize for pushing too much (if that was the case in his eyes), maybe there'll be a chance down the road your boy can get a peek.

FWIW, I think the trophy part of this experience will be if your boy learns something positive out of it. There'll be more antlers for him in the future. The old dude may have been dreaming about getting a buck like that himself his whole life and this may be the closest he'll get to having his "own".

Good luck to you and your son.

[Scott K]

I have to agree with Wanderer. It wasnt "your" deer until you tagged it. Until then, it didnt belong to anyone. Being the land owner found a dead carcass on his land, he just cut off the antlers and claimed what he found on his land as his.

As for selling them, I think that is illegal in MN.

Now morally, I would have given it to the kid

[CaptainMusky]

Sucky deal and I would be disappointed if it were my sons deer too. Having said that I would have gone about this in a different manner. Since you had a sort of relationship with this fellow perhaps a visit to his house after finding out he found a deer and tell him you "heard he found a big buck" and that you were wondering if it were a) one you had on your trail cams or if my boy could see it because he is fascinated by big deer and thinks there are "no big deer around here...haha".

At this point nothing will change this guys mind but your son has the experience to learn from good and bad...

[BLACKJACK]

The one lesson I learn from every deer that I miss with my bow, or worse yet wound and don't find is back to the practice butt, practice, practice, and practice some more, throughout the summer and through the season so the next time I get a shot I drill the deer thru the prime spot. I use it as my motivation to get out and shoot more often even when its cold/hot/buggy etc.